Request: Garmadon/Cole

Requested by: Anonymous, PrincessMialyn

Warnings: Yaoi

"Okay, everyone remember the plan?" Cole asked in a hushed whisper. "We split up so we don't have to battle the Serpentine in one big group, then we each fight one smaller group."

Cole crouched at the edge of the enemy's territory with the other four Ninja, watching as the sizeable group of Serpentine milled about. The snakes had been spotted within Ninjago City, and had taken up a large enough area to be considered a threat. As such, the Ninja were called down to take care of them. Of course, they were aware of the threat of Lord Garmadon possibly being there, but had all agreed to stay away from him until they had driven out all the Serpentine.

"We will still end up being severely outnumbered, Cole," Zane pointed out. "Shouldn't this plan have been thought out more?

"Do you have a better one?"

"Well, no, but-"

Kai raised a hand to interrupt Zane. "Look, let's just ignore the holes in Cole's plan and get rid of these Serpentine before someone gets hurt." When the earth ninja shot him a look, he shrugged. "Well, he's right, Cole. We're gonna be outnumbered one to...a lot."

"We've faced Serpentine while the odds were against us before, so how should this time be any different?"

"We had our Golden Weapons then," Jay pointed out. "And we didn't have to worry about battling Garmadon. Now we just have regular weapons and he could be with them, ready to attack at any second! Yeah, real good plan, Cole."

"Hey, come on, we can make it work," Lloyd interjected. "We just have to drive them out of the city, and not let me and my dad come face-to-face. As long as we can do that, everything will work out."

Cole sighed in exasperation. "Thank you. Now, let's just get this over with, shall we?"

He pointed out directions for each of them to go, deciding to take the far left flank himself, before they pulled their hoods over their heads and sprang from the bushes they were hiding in. With their signature battle cry of "Ninja-GO!", they caught the attention of every Serpentine in sight, before they immediately split up. As expected, small groups of Serpentine went after each of them.

Once they were close enough, Cole unsheathed his scythe, then whipped around to slash at any snake that came too close. From what he could see, the Serpentine Generals were not present, for which he was thankful; having to deal with them would have been far too much to handle at the moment.

Soon enough, several of the Serpentine he was battling had retreated, but before he could do anything else, he felt a hand grasp the back of his gi, dragging him away from the rest of the fighting. The action caused him to drop his scythe to the ground, and without a weapon to protect himself, and being unable to see his attacker, he started to panic. The battle was soon completely out of sight when he was brought around the corner of a building, then pinned against the wall with the attacker's hands on his shoulders.

"I thought you were the Master of Earth," the assailant mocked, leaning close to Cole's ear. "I thought you were supposed to be stronger than this." The voice was instantly recognizable, and the black ninja looked up, his eyes narrowed into a glare.

"So you decided to finally show yourself, Lord Garmadon," he hissed. He raised his hands to the ones Garmadon had on his shoulders, gripping them and attempting to lift them away, but to no avail. "I don't think you've noticed, but this doesn't exactly qualify as a fight."

The dark lord rolled his eyes. "I don't want to fight, I just want to...talk." He squeezed Cole's shoulders in an attempt to show friendliness, but the ninja wasn't about to be fooled so easily. "I knew you and your little clan were going to attack tonight, just so you know."

That comment caught Cole's attention. "You did? But you weren't around when we discussed-"

"Let's just say that for ninja, you five have no idea what the word 'quiet' means," he interrupted. "Anyway, hearing your friends criticize your plan earlier made me feel so sorry for you. For a leader, you never get the respect you deserve."

"Of course I get respect," Cole retorted. "Like you'd know anything about how-" He was shut up by a hand clamping over his mouth, gulping when he felt Garmadon's lower right hand rest on his hip.

"Let me finish," he growled. "As I was saying, your friends have no idea how lost they would be without you to lead them. You're smart, courageous, and have so much more potential than you think. They may not see these things..." He leaned in close again. "...but I do."

Cole leaned away from the dark lord, but didn't break eye contact. The hand over his mouth slowly slid away, and he cautiously asked, "What exactly are you playing at?"

Garmadon chuckled. "Instead of trying to lead those who either won't listen or will only ever disagree with you...why not join me instead?" When Cole's eyes widened, he went on. "Once I take over Ninjago, I would be glad to let you rule by my side as my second-in-command. My right-hand man, if you will. Because trust me, I know a leader like you deserves it."

Cole's dark green eyes stared at him in astonishment. Admittedly, a part of him wanted to accept. No more disagreements over plans, no more arguing with teammates over trivial matters, no more dealing with them ignoring him when he sets down rules. It sounded quite ideal to join with Garmadon if it meant he could make decisions without meeting resistance.

Of course, he knew exactly where his loyalties were meant to lie. He knew he could never turn on his teammates even if he wanted to. He knew they needed him more than Garmadon did. Cole mustered all of his strength to push him away, a scowl on his face.

"I'm not going to betray my team."

"Think about it," Garmadon said with a smirk. "I'll still be around if you ever change your mind." With that, he shoved Cole out from behind the building, where the battle seemed to finally be ending. Cole was about to turn back to tell him otherwise, but he was nowhere to be found.

After a little while, he had regrouped with the rest of the team to hear how they did in their fight with the Serpentine.

"Well, your plan worked for the most part, Cole," said Kai. "But a few Serpentine may have escaped further into the city, so we should probably do a bit of a sweep to make sure they don't cause any trouble."

"Agreed. But first, does anyone have any injuries that need attending to immediately?" As they discussed, Cole soon found himself looking over his shoulder into the shadows where Garmadon was hiding. For a moment, he could have sworn he saw the dark lord's red eyes peering at him, before winking and returning back into the darkness.

Like I'd ever betray my team for him, he thought bitterly. Sure they might not always respect or agree with my decisions, but at least we're doing the right thing! And at least we succeeded this time!

I feel like more people requested this. Huh.

Thank you to Anonymous and PrincessMialyn for requesting this pairing! Stay tuned!